Self Conclusion
by MusicalCatharsis
Summary: Just as she was about to step off the ledge he reached out and grabbed her wrist. I give you one choice, instead of dying living with me.


**A/N: I've been away from writing for almost 2 years now. It has taken me a month to get this pathetic story written in a way that I can consider perfect. I hope you take the time to read it, understand it, and then review it. I am not the same girl who wrote Father's Son, When the Rain Falls, Only Tomorrow. That girl has died, not in a literal sense, but I buried her along with the unbroken person she used to be. I have fallen in and out of love in the past two years, and I could not feel more whole than I do now. He is still a big part of my life. And we will get back together when and if I feel like it. But for now, I will write…because in my words he can tell that I am for him and he is for me. I love him but I hate him. The end. **

**Fade in, start the scene  
Enter beautiful girl**

She walked past him. Stood at the edge of the balcony and climbed up. In one blink she stood there arms spread wide, face tilted up towards the moon, with one foot prepared to step off the ledge. He thought his eyes deceived him, thought that there was no way she would be the one preparing to jump. Her breathing was coming in uneven, her hair had fallen out of its elegant twist, and her cheeks had a rosy tint to them and in her eyes a manic glare.

**  
But things are not what they seem  
As we stand at the edge of the world**

She was beautiful, finally disheveled, not perfect in front of him. His heart twitched slightly as she moved closer to the edge of the railing. It was now or never, his mind debated heatedly about his next move, not sure of where he should go. If he should help, or let her jump? Would she care if he let her die? He thought better of it, went against his upbringing, went against everything. She took a careful step off the railing at the moment his hand shot out and clamped around her wrist. ****

"Excuse me, sir, but I have plans to die tonight  
Oh, and you are directly in my way. And I bet you're gonna say it's not right"

He could only stare at her. Elegantly she spoke to him, with the insane look in her eyes. She still held her demeanor; spoke to him so demurely, again his heart twitched. He smiled; no he smirked in her face, as she tied relentlessly to yank her wrist from his grasp. For the first time since she walked out to the balcony she made a move less than perfect and lifted her dress up to her thighs, began tearing at the fabric, anything to rid herself of the perfection. She smelt heavenly, something about her reminded him of a person he used to know…a person he used to be. Sadly.

**  
My reply: **Not that it mattered much to her. But he gave it anyway. As he did, he watched her face for a silent reminded of the prick he should be. Not the perfection she was staring him down with. Her eyes glossed over, wanted to smile for a moment because someone had seen that she was in fact not perfect. She relished in the moment. Still, her body wanted to be flying off the balcony. She listened to his plea.

**  
"Excuse me, Miss but do you have the slightest clue of exactly what you just said to me and exactly who you're talking to?"**

She nodded he head. She is not daft; she knows exactly what she is doing. Knows exactly the feelings that course through her veins each day. She knows the feeling of death and despair. She wants to be vindicated. She wants to be let go from this world, set free, liberated, but something in his eyes has her rooted to that spot on the balcony's ledge. Something in the way his fingers around her wrist made her feel. The sensations he sent up her arm, she hadn't felt anything in a while. She leaned into his touch as her mind ran away. Becoming belligerent:****

She said, "I don't care, you don't even know me"

**I said, "I know but I'd like to change that soon, hopefully"**

He didn't mean to say it. Didn't mean for it to come out like a pick up line. He didn't expect the hurt to flash so greatly over her features. She recoiled from him, tried once again to yank her wrist out of his grasp. He held tighter, she seemed so frail, so tiny. She'd never survive the fall, but she knew that. That was why she was here. She's not daft, again he reminded himself. She was perfection at its greatest. But everything about her was screaming imperfections. Her hair, it was everywhere now. He chuckled at the sight of her, she relaxed a bit. He grinned.

**  
Yeah, we all flirt with the tiniest notion  
Of self conclusion in one simplified motion  
You see the trick is that you're never supposed to act on it  
No matter how unbearable this misery gets**

He could see in her eyes, the pain she was going through, the pain that entered her mind each and every day. Fred, oh how she loved him. Her soul died the day he did in the final battle. Their relationship began and ended at Hogwarts, how fucking ironic. Her parents, dead. Not because of the war, but a tragic accident while vacationing. She didn't understand that when it was time to go, it was time. Now was not her time. She wept for the first time that night. Collapsed into his outstretched arms, he caught her, brought her back from the edge, carried her to safety. Her breathing was still coming in short gasps, he fell in love. Simple as that. It only took a moment, it always only takes a moment. ****

"You make it sound so easy to be alive. But tell me, how am I supposed to seize this day, when everything inside me has died?"

What she meant, "how am I supposed to **live** these days when everything around me is **dying?**" He looked deep into her eyes, searching for a girl that was no longer there, searching for something that had been lost 3 years ago. He didn't know the person clinging to his chest so desperately. He wanted to get to know the angel, something about the way she looked, talked, acted…was intrigued him. He wanted to read her, like the open book he knew she was, like the open books she used to throw herself into. She was an unwritten story. Or possibly a story with alternate endings, no, she was not the girl he used to know.

**  
My reply: **Again. Not that she wanted to hear it. In her mind, this was it. This balcony was the end for her. She did not see a future, all she saw was the past, the pain, the tears. She lamented some more. I held her closer to my body. Strangers. That's what we had become. The war, that kiss, it all was gone. I missed her lips. **  
**

**"Trust me, girl, I know your legs are pleading to leap  
But I offer you this easy choice-Instead of dying, living with me"  
**

He didn't even think about the suggestion before it passed through his lips. All he knew was that he wanted her to be by his side, wanted her to be alive. Dead, she would be merely a memory, and he wanted to hold her for a little while longer. It wasn't every day one got to hold a perfect imperfection. It wasn't everyday that two world breeched their boundaries and came together if only for a second. He would have held her forever, she had other plans. His defenses were down, so she yanked herself from his grasp. Loathing clearly spelled out on her perfect face.

**  
She said, "Are you crazy? You don't even know me."  
I said, "I know, but I'd like to change that soon hopefully"  
**

The loathing slowly hardened on her face. Something in his eyes caused her to falter in her plans for a second. The air blew lazily around the pair as she stepped closer, her form now shivering. He reached his hand out slowly, grazing her cheek with her fingertips, felt the warm wetness resting there. The pad of his thumb gently wiped the moisture from her cheek, she let out a normal breath, she relaxed visibly and leaned her cheek into the palm of his hand. He stepped closer and she closed her eyes. He pressed his forehead to hers and in the distance they heard the applause as yet another person finished their acceptance speech. They were miles away from there, something clicked in the second their foreheads touched.

**Yeah, we all flirt with the tiniest notion  
Of self conclusion in one simplified motion  
You see the trick is that you're never supposed to act on it  
No matter how unbearable this misery gets**

She laced her fingers through his, silently relishing in the way his calluses felt against her perfect skin. She smiled, a smile that reached her eyes, a fire sparked in the pit of her stomach. A fire that she hadn't felt since Fred, a fire not even Ron could replace. She smiled again and pulled back from the noncommittal embrace. She walked to the edge of the balcony once again. And spoke "That's where he died." He nodded coming up behind her.

"I understand, that's where she died." Then they knew. Fred and Pansy, fought till the death in the same spot. Who killed who first would never be known, but they were both down there now, with their loves staring down at them.****

"I would be lying if I said that things would never get rough. And all this cliché motivation, it could never be enough. I could stand here all night trying to convince you, but what good would that do? My offer stands, and you must choose"

She nodded and with one last look down to the place where the love of her life took his last breath, she backed away from the railing. Slowly, pulling her wand from her pocket she fixed her dress and her hair and make up. Melodramatically, she looked into his eyes. Contemplating exactly how to phrase her next statement. She opened and closed her mouth four times before finally speaking:****

"All right, you win, but I only give you one night to prove yourself to be better than my attempt at flight. I swear to god if you hurt me I will leap  
I will toss myself from these very cliffs and you'll never see it coming"

And from the look in her eyes he could tell she was serious. She would've jumped off this balcony tonight had he not been there to stop her. He could see the storm raging behind her irises. She wanted nothing more than to be saved, or was that the look of someone who wanted to meet death again and again. He stepped closer to her, grabbing her hands as a cloud move from in front of the moon. He could see the subtly highlights in her hair now, and the flecks of sadness the would always linger in her eyes. Agonizingly slow he pressed his lips to her forehead, to her nose, and then to her lips. She caught her breath and kissed back with a passion she did not know she had. Her heart unfroze. He melted. They smiled. He pulled back and said:

**  
"Settle, precious, I know what you're going through  
Just ten minutes before you got here I was gonna jump too"  
**

She looked up at him with her eyes wide. Sputtering, that admission must have taken a lot to come from him. His eyes were so open, so vulnerable, she could read everything there. It was then that she stopped fighting the emotions she felt when they shared that kiss on the battlefield three years ago. The one that Fred had seen, the kiss that caused him to go off and fight Pansy, to want to cause Draco pain. It was then that she fell in love, and forgave herself. She reached up to kiss him again, this time allowing herself to enjoy it.

**  
Yeah we all flirt with the tiniest notion  
Of self conclusion in one simplified motion  
You see the trick is that you're never supposed act on it  
No matter how unbearable this misery gets**

The rain started then, and from down below two ghosts stared up at the ones they loved locked in an embrace. It didn't hurt anymore after the three years of suffering Hermione and Draco had to go through. They were happy for the couple. The applause started up again from the hall, and the couple only broke apart when Hermione heard her name being called for Healer of the Year. She smiled at him and checked her water logged appearance. Not caring for the first time in her life she sprinted into the hall, make up running, hair a ball of frizz, dress ruined, but with the biggest smile on her face. She had finally found home.


End file.
